Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel reports:
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Coach Stan Van Gundy and General Manager Otis Smith met Thursday before the Magic’s practice. The topic, in a nutshell:
Dealing with changes that are good for the team … but not so good for players involved.
Their meeting came in the wake of small forward Mickael Pietrus’ shouting match with Van Gundy near the bench on Wednesday night.
Frustrated with his dwindling role, Pietrus was pulled out of the game by Van Gundy after just three minutes into the final period during the Magic’s blow-out victory against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Amway Center.
Teammates, including co-captain Dwight Howard, tried to calm Pietrus. One player said that MP wanted to be traded if he’s not playing regularly, although MP told me he didn’t want to leave a contender.
